UK producers look to extend COVID-19 insurance scheme
Dec 15, 2020
Washington [US], December 15 : The U.K. producers are in discussions with the government to extend the USD 500 million (USD 664.6 million) COVID-19 insurance scheme for Film & TV production.
According to Variety, as first reported by Broadcast, producers are seeking to extend the deadline by six months, to June 2021. U.K. producers' body Pact is currently gathering information to support the extension, which will be presented to the country's Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), the government body in charge.
"It has not yet been agreed by government, we are working with them on making the case," Pact chief John McVay told Variety.
As reported by Variety, when the scheme was first announced, the deadline was originally December 31 and has since been extended to February 28.
The extension is intended to "help even more productions access the scheme, reflecting ongoing uncertainty and the continued inability of productions to secure private insurance for coronavirus-related risks," said a statement from the DCMS at the time.
Under the scheme, there is a total cap on claims per production of USD 5 million (USD 6.65 million), and productions will need to pay an "appropriate excess" when seeking to claim under the scheme, as well as an "appropriate fee" when joining the scheme. Productions will also need to purchase other, more standard insurance to cover non-coronavirus risks to ensure their production is adequately insured.
The six-month extension would allow for another production cycle to take place over the summer, McVay said.
Variety reported that the process will also become that much easier as the U.K. would have left the European Union, and their attendant rules, by the end of this year.
As per Variety, insurance claims are expected to significantly reduce as the coronavirus vaccine, which began rolling out across the country last week, expands and reaches a large amount of the population.
